Today’s installment of campaign-related news items from across the country.
* It’s Election Day in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district today, where voters will choose a successor to Tom Marino (R-Pa.), who quit just two weeks into the new Congress. Donald Trump said last night the race is “a little bit of a referendum” on him, which is plainly false: Republicans are so overwhelmingly favored to keep the seat, neither party has invested heavily in the race.
* It’s also Election Day in Kentucky, where the marque race is the Democratic gubernatorial primary, pitting state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, state Attorney General Andy Beshear, and former state auditor Adam Edelen. The winner will almost certainly face incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin (R), who’ll first have to win a primary race of his own today.
* At a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last night, Trump condemned former Vice President Joe Biden (D) for moving to Delaware with his family when Biden was 11 years old. Yeah, I didn’t understand the criticism, either, though Trump seemed quite excited about this line of attack.
* Politico reported overnight that the RNC raised nearly $16 million in April, far more than the DNC’s $6.6 million over the same period. As May got underway, the RNC has $34.7 million cash on hand, while the DNC ended April with $7.6 million cash on hand.
* Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) yesterday unveiled her presidential campaign’s plan on antitrust oversight and consumer protection. * Around the same time, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) unveiled his vision on foreign policy and national security. * And in Kansas, the national Republican Party is so panicked about the prospect of Kris Kobach (R) running for the U.S. Senate next year that the party leaders are letting locals know that they would intervene in the primary in the hopes of bringing him down. Kobach, who ran a failed gubernatorial campaign in Kansas last year, is also under consideration to serve as Trump’s new “immigration czar.”
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past." Recommended
